This invention relates generally to fishing reels of the type having a rotary element which is rotational in a first direction for reeling in a fishing line onto a spool. More particularly, the present invention relates to mechanisms for selectively preventing rotational movement of the rotary element in a second direction which is opposite to the first direction.
In a spinning reel, the rotary element, a rotor, rotates to draw the fishing line in a wrapping motion around an oscillating spool. In a spincast type fishing reel, a spinner head rotates to perform the same function as the rotor of the spinning reel. Conventional fishing reels generally include an anti-reverse mechanism to limit the reverse movement of the rotary element.
Such conventional anti-reverse mechanisms may include a cooperating ratchet and pawl that prevent the reverse rotation of the rotary element. When the rotary element is advancing in the line-retrieval direction, the pawl is disengaged from the ratchet teeth and runs directly or, indirectly with the rotor. When the rotary element starts to advance in the opposite direction, the pawl is shifted between adjacent ratchet teeth to stop any further reverse movement. This design however provides a relatively large amount of reverse movement, also known as time lagging, before the rotary element can be stopped. This is due to the distance between the teeth of the ratchet. The number of teeth on the ratchet also limits the number of anti-reverse positions which may be provided.
In order to increase the number of anti-reverse positions, one may increase the number of teeth. However, the number of teeth which may be added is limited by the interior spacing of the fishing reel and the resulting teeth are generally smaller and denser. This makes the mechanism much more difficult to produce in order to prevent the pawl slipping from the teeth during the engaging period. The smaller ratchet and pawl is also much easier to damage since the forces produced during line retrieval act on a smaller contact surface between the pawl and the ratchet. In addition, the number of anti-reverse positions is still limited.
To overcome the above problem, some conventional reels use a one-way clutching device to replace the ratchet and pawl. A one-way device generally contains two rotating elements. If any one of the elements is locked up, the other element can only rotate in one direction. Otherwise the whole device can rotate in the opposite direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,292 discloses a one-way clutching device. The pinion is attached to the inner ring of the one-way device while the rotor is attached to the outer ring of the one-way device. To prevent reverse rotation, a key is inserted transversely to the outer ring. The drawback of this design however is that the one-way device is on the pinion and the pinion is an the main shaft of the fishing reel. The transverse position of the key to the outer rings of the one-way device introduces radical forces acting directly onto the one-way device. These radical forces load all the rotary elements from the outer ring of the one-way device to the main shaft. A series of frictional forces is generated and applied onto all the rotary elements due to the unbalanced side loading. As a result, when the anti-reverse feature is on, both static and dynamic frictions on the rotation of the rotor have been increased.